In the light of the messages addressed to the world on the occasion of the enthronement of John Paul II, in October 1978, the A. (who took part as a theologian in Vatican 11) draws up a balance; sheet from the recent encyclical Ut unum sint (which deals with the ecumenical commitment of the Church) in the following subjects: power understood as service; the reception of the explicitly ecumenical orientation of the Council; the setting up of an Episcopal collegial structure; the questioning of the functioning of the petrine ministry of unity.